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Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Laurel Canyon: There Goes The Neighborhood

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that Laurel Canyon Boulevard -- just south of Mulholland Drive -- always seems to be covered by a miniature river of water?

What gives?

Are there enough pool owners in the neighborhood to keep the street submerged when they take turns draining their backyard swimming holes?

It can't be blamed on the recent rains-- the water flows even on the hottest days of summer.

Is there some sort of hidden Artesian well? If so, why isn't someone selling the stuff at the Canyon Store**?!?

An admission: I dread driving through the pass because my (black) car is always getting splattered from the oversized, street-water spewing wheels of the Escalades in front of me (and, yes, I now avoid Laurel Canyon for a few days after I get the car washed).

But here's my real concern: what sort of damage is being wreaked by this daily dribble? Is the soft soil beneath the two-lane road slowly crumbling away?

I'm beginning to get the feeling that the top of Laurel Canyon might be headed downslope (and into oblivion)-- just like those Bluebird Canyon hillside estates in Laguna.

Or, hey... like some homes in Laurel Canyon.

Do I suffer from some weird case of hypochondria for highways?

Maybe. But with good (decent) reason.

:::

**Take a listen to The Doors song, "Love Street" to hear a reference to Laurel Canyon and the, "...place where all the creatures meet."

22 Comments:

I think that Laurel Canyon always has seemed the least stable of all the West side canyons. There will inevitably come a landslide or crash that will close down this fragile ecosystem for months or years to come.

That's a good question! Further down below on the Studio City side in Fryman Canyon, there is a stream that was sent underground years ago, that continues to Bubble Up all the time, just the way you are describing what you see on Laurel Canyon...dear friends live right there and have lived there from the time when the stream was visible on what they thought was their property and then a developer came along and started all this "improvememt" sending this stream totally underground...I wonder if on Upper Laurel there is something similar? I know Outpost Drive has had similar problems in the past...but I think they have it under control now..It would be horrendous if suddenly all the underpinnings on Laurel just went kerplunkt, wouldn't it? OY!